Bombs can have bomb casing of a conventional or penetrating warhead (PW) type. “Conventional” as it is used herein in describing a bomb casing means the shape and characteristics of the bomb casing as would be understood in the bomb industry.
Typically, bomb casings are filled with high explosive material and an end cap is used to seal the open end. Finished bombs using these bomb casings may be in 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 lb. classes or larger. The selection of the particular class of bomb will depend on the amount of high explosive that needs to be delivered to a selected target. Such bombs have been in the U.S. weapons inventory for a number of years.
Conventional and PW bomb casings each have a prescribed wall thickness. For any given bomb pound class, the interior cavity of the bomb casing will be tightly filled with high explosive material so that the finished bomb of a particular class will deliver predictable destructive power to a selected target. If the destructive power were not predictable, there is a strong likelihood either the appropriate destructive power will not be delivered to a target or excessive power will be delivered, but in each case there will be a waste of resources.
As is reported many times in the media when bombs are used, there is a problem with the amount of collateral damage near where such bombs are delivered to selected targets. The collateral damage may be to structures in the immediate area or to the civilian population. Therefore, it would be optimal for bombs to deliver high explosives to the selected target and not inflict undesired collateral damage unless that was the intention.
It is understood in the bomb industry that just reducing the size of the bomb, for example, from a 1000 to 500 lb. class bomb to reduce collateral damage may mean that collateral damage is reduced but there are other problems. The typical problem is that the smaller bomb may be inadequate to destroy the selected target because the mass of the 1000-pound class bomb may still be needed for target destruction.
There is desire for bombs of any class to have a reduced collateral damage capability yet not reduce the effectiveness of the bomb to deliver predictable destructive power for the destruction of the selected target.